Shackleford statement on end of M/WBE programs

Last week, Gov. Mike Braun announced that he will end the Minority and Women Business Enterprise (M/WBE) programs within Indiana's Diversity Business Enterprises (DBE) program. This followed Attorney General Todd Rokita releasing a formal advisory opinion that these contracting programs are unconstitutional.

State Rep. Robin Shackleford (D-Indianapolis), a former M/WBE subcontractor, released the following statement in response:

"For seven years, I worked for a certified M/WBE. Many times, the only reason we got a subcontract was because of the goals in this program. But those goals only got us in the room. We still had to earn every dollar on cost, quality and performance, just like any other business competing for the work.

"That's the distinction this decision ignores: This program was never about guaranteed results. It was about guaranteed opportunity. Calling it 'un-American,' as AG Rokita did, gets it backward. The un-American part is pretending a playing field is level when entire categories of qualified businesses have historically been shut out of the room before they ever got the chance to compete. Ending these goals doesn't erase that history, it just removes one of the few tools that addressed it. If Gov. Braun truly wants a merit-based system, he owes minority- and women-owned businesses something more than a slogan in return: a real, structured path to compete, not just a theoretical one."